Where does Vanderbilt vs. Alabama rank among the biggest upsets in college football?

Teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press college football poll have a record of 587-40-7 against unranked opponents. Of those 40 losses, there is little doubt that Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35 on Saturday is among the most shocking – especially given the recent lack of No.

Before Saturday, AP's No. 1 teams had lost 134-1 against unranked opponents since Oregon State upset USC on a Thursday night in September 2008. This Beavers win marked the third time in five games that the No. 1 seeds lost to unranked teams. Since then, Alabama has suffered just one loss to Texas A&M in 2021.

And then came Vandy, which had never beaten a top-five team in the AP before — let alone a No. 1 — and hadn't beaten the Crimson Tide in 40 years.

All hope is not lost for Alabama, especially in the debut season of the 12-team College Football Playoff. Four No. 1 AP teams lost to an unranked opponent and went on to win the national title:

But regardless of what happens next, Alabama's first season under Kalen DeBoer will be remembered as a historic upset, just as the first season under Nick Saban will be remembered as a loss to Louisiana-Monroe.

How shocking was Vanderbilt's victory? Let's rank AP No. 1 teams' most impressive losses to unranked opponents.

1. Duquesne 21, No. 1 Pitt 13 (Oct. 21, 1939)

The first is perhaps still the most surprising.

Pitt finished in the top eight in each of the first three years of the AP poll's existence, including winning the national title in 1937. Preseason polls did not exist until 1950, but when the first poll was released in 1939, Pitt was rightfully the Number 1.

Duquesne had gone 4-6 the year before, had a new coach in Aldo Donelli, and had played forgettable games against Illinois Wesleyan, Waynesburg and Manhattan (winning all three) before the cross-city rivalry game against Pitt in mid-October. Still, the Dukes pulled off a tour de force en route to an 8-0-1 season that ended with a tie against Detroit. They finished at No. 10, while Pitt fell to 5-4 and didn't finish at No. 1 again until 1955.

2. Purdue 28, No. 1 Notre Dame 14 (October 7, 1950)

Notre Dame dominated the 1940s, winning four national titles in a dynasty under Frank Leahy – including 1949. Purdue had gone 14-21-1 from 1946-49. And when the 1950s began and Notre Dame was ranked first in the first preseason poll, there was no reason to believe the Boilermakers were a threat.

But Purdue shocked the world in South Bend by handing Notre Dame its first loss since Dec. 1, 1945, ending a 39-game unbeaten streak. Purdue won just one more game, finishing 2-7. Notre Dame stumbled to 4-4-1 and Leahy's Irish were never quite the same.

3. TCU 6, No. 1 Texas 0 (November 18, 1961)

Texas was on its way to its first national title under Darrell Royal with a No. 1 ranking and an 8-0 record heading into its game against Southwest Conference cellar-dweller TCU. The Horned Frogs had gone 4-4-2 the year before, and when they traveled to Austin in November 1961 they were 2-4-1.

The Longhorns came up empty on three drives inside the TCU 10-yard line, and a 50-yard touchdown pass from Sonny Gibbs to Buddy Iles in the second quarter was all the Horned Frogs needed. It was the only loss for Texas, which won the Cotton Bowl and finished No. 3. TCU finished 3-5-2.

4. Mississippi State 6, No. 1 Alabama 3 (November 1, 1980)

Let's call it the beginning of the end of the Bear Bryant era at Alabama. The Crimson Tide won back-to-back national titles in 1978-79 and had their sights set on a third straight win after a 7-0 start in 1980. Mississippi State was 6-2, but the Bulldogs had lost 22-0 to Bryant-coached Alabama teams.

The Bulldogs held the Tide without a touchdown and ended their 28-game winning streak with their first SEC loss in four years.

5. Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35 (Oct. 5, 2024)

Consider Vanderbilt's place in college football's hierarchy: The jokester in the SEC, 0-60 all-time against top-five teams, 0-10 against No. 1 teams. Vandy has never ranked in the AP top 5 and has never cracked the top 10. It is a charter member of the SEC but has never won the conference title.

In the eyes of the SEC's elite, Vanderbilt football exists to lose – and to provide respite after emotional games like Alabama's dramatic win over Georgia.

Perhaps Alabama's aura of invincibility had already been broken by Saban's retirement, but the Crimson Tide had still climbed to No. 1 after defeating the Bulldogs behind DeBoer, who nearly led Washington to a surprise national title last season. Vanderbilt lost 2-2 to Georgia State and went winless in SEC play in three of the last four seasons.

The distribution of points was only 22.5 — low by Alabama-Vandy standards — but that doesn't make Saturday's result any less shocking.

Michigan State 16, No. 1 Ohio State 13 (November 9, 1974)

It's hard to choose between the Spartans' stunners and the Buckeyes.

In 1998, Nick Saban wasn't Nick Saban yet. He had posted a 19-16-1 record in his first three seasons at Michigan State, and in 1998 his squad had a 4-4 record heading into Ohio State, trailing Andy Katzenmoyer and a dominant record all season Defense was in first place. The Spartans were 27-point underdogs — a few points more than Vanderbilt was on Saturday — and fell to 17-3. But with two touchdowns and five field goals, they ended Ohio State's BCS title dreams.

Twenty-four years earlier, Michigan State, 4-3-1, held off Ohio State with big plays and a controversial goal-line stand in the spirit of a streak of four straight Rose Bowl games against Ohio State. The Buckeyes crossed the goal line on the final play of the game in what some thought would be a game-winning touchdown, but the officials waved it off and ruled that time had expired, much to the chagrin of an irate Woody Hayes.

7. Holy Cross 55, No. 1 Boston College 12 (November 28, 1942)

The No. 1 team lost two weeks in a row in 1942 to an unranked opponent. First came Auburn's 27-13 win over Georgia and Heisman winner Frankie Sinkwich. Then came an even bigger – and historically dominant – surprise.

Boston College moved up to No. 1 thanks to Georgia's loss, but lost 55-12 to Holy Cross, which was just 4-4-1. More than 80 years later, it remains the largest loss for an AP No. 1 team at 43 points, easily surpassing Penn State's 34-point win over No. 1 Pitt in 1981.

8. UCLA 20, No. 1 Nebraska 17 (September 9, 1972)

UCLA had gone 2-7-1 in 1971. Nebraska had won its second consecutive national title. With the return of eventual Heisman winner Johnny Rodgers and a No. 1 seed in the preseason, Nebraska was a clear favorite over UCLA to open the 1972 season.

But in his first game as starting quarterback, future Emmy-nominated actor Mark Harmon led UCLA to an upset capped by Efren Herrera's game-winning field goal with 22 seconds left.

9. Syracuse 17, No. 1 Nebraska 9 (September 29, 1984)

Syracuse had no rankings from 1961 to 1986. From 1972 to 1986 it didn't even appear in the survey. Nebraska was the opposite, a poll-topper that produced 15 consecutive top-12 finishes during the 1984 season.

The Huskers had beaten Syracuse 63-7 en route to losing the national title after missing a two-point attempt against Miami the year before, and were No. 1 when they defeated Syracuse despite losing several stars Visited September 29, 1984. as a 24.5-point favorite. Syracuse pulled off the shock, ending Nebraska's 23-game regular-season winning streak while holding the Huskers – who beat No. 8 UCLA 42-3 the game before – to just 214 yards rushing.

10. Washington State 34, No. 1 UCLA 31 (Oct. 29, 1988)

Washington State had gone 10-21-2 over the last three years, and in Dennis Erickson's second season it was just 4-3 after two straight losses. UCLA was undefeated and had already beaten No. 2 Nebraska behind star quarterback Troy Aikman.

An upset seemed even more unlikely when UCLA took a 27-6 lead in the third quarter. But Washington State scored 21 points in the third quarter and pulled off an unexpected thriller with an 81-yard touchdown to tie the score at 27. In the fourth quarter, Aikman led UCLA to the 6-yard line as Washington State led by four points, but his final two passes fell incomplete and Washington State defeated UCLA on the road for the first time in 30 years.

The Cougars won 9-3 and catapulted Erickson to Miami, where he led the Hurricanes to two of the next three national titles.

11. Arizona 13, No. 1 USC 10 (October 10, 1981)

The 1981 season was like no other. AP No. 1 teams combined to go 7-6, with four of those losses coming against unranked opponents. Most shocking was Arizona's fall to USC.

USC running back Marcus Allen won the Heisman Trophy, and the team had apparently already proven its mettle with a win against No. 2 Oklahoma. Arizona hasn't been a factor since joining the Pac-10 in 1978, including two emphatic losses to the Trojans.

With the help of Allen's 74-yard touchdown, USC built a 10-point lead, but was unable to score in the final three quarters. Arizona pulled ahead in the third quarter, ending the Trojans' title hopes. The Wildcats finished just 6-5, while USC finished 9-3.

12. Illinois 20, No. 1 Michigan State 13 (Oct. 27, 1956)

The Illini join Purdue in 1950 as the two worst-losing teams against No. who scored all three touchdowns – including 70- and 82-yarders.

(Top photo from Michigan State's 1998 win over Ohio State: Damian Strohmeyer / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)